Steve: Hi, this is Steve Webb, your OG Godcaster.
Steve: You're about to hear the LifeSpring Advent Calendar, which was recorded in 2006.
Steve: It's a daily show which will run right up to Christmas Day,
Steve: so be sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode.
Steve: Now, the story of Advent and Christmas is a timeless story, so it doesn't age.
Steve: However, the links and the phone numbers mentioned on the podcast have all changed but one.
Steve: WhyChristmas.com is still current and active,
Steve: and it's the best Christmas information website on the Internet.
Steve: LifeSpringPodcast.com now forwards you to LifeSpringMedia.com.
Steve: And the phone number you'll hear on the show is changed to plus 1-951-732-8511.
Steve: Hello and welcome back.
Steve: This is Day 6, and this is the LifeSpring Advent Calendar, and I'm Steve Webb, your host.
Steve: I'm so glad you're here today.
Steve: We've got a fun show today.
Steve: Let's find out what's behind the door and see what James from WhyChristmas.com has got for us today.
Steve: Santa Claus
James: Steve, because it's St. Nicholas Day. This is the day where lots of children around the world get
James: their presents from St. Nicholas, or as we know him in the USA and UK, Santa Claus or Father
James: Christmas. St. Nicholas's Day is widely celebrated in Europe, especially in the Netherlands. In Holland,
James: he's better known as Sinterklaas, and today he travels to Amsterdam wearing his red bishop's
James: robes. More on that later. He travels with his servant Black Peter. Sinterklaas then rides
James: through Amsterdam on a white horse.
James: No reindeer? Huh.
James: What else can you tell us about Sinterklaas?
James: Last night, on St. Nicholas's Eve,
James: the 5th of December, children would have
James: left their clogs or shoes out to be filled
James: with presents, and they also believe
James: that if they leave some hay and carrots in their
James: shoes for Sinterklaas' horse, they would be
James: left some sweets. Children
James: are told that Black Peter keeps a record
James: of all the things they've done in the past year
James: in a book, and that good children get
James: presents, and bad children get
James: chased by Black Peter with a stick.
James: You can find out more about Sinterklaas on the Holland page
James: over at www.whychristmas.com
Steve: I'll have to check that out, thank you.
Steve: So we know about St. Nicholas in the Netherlands,
Steve: but how and why did he start delivering presents,
Steve: and why has he got so many names?
James: Well, St. Nicholas was originally a 4th century bishop in Myra,
James: and that's a town in what's now Turkey.
James: He was a very kind man and had a reputation for helping the poor
James: and giving secret gifts to people who needed help.
James: The most famous story about how St Nick started to give presents
James: also tells of how the custom of hanging up stockings to get presents first started.
James: It goes like this.
James: There was a poor man who had three daughters.
James: He was so poor that he didn't have enough money for a dowry,
James: so his daughters couldn't get married.
James: But one night, Nicholas secretly dropped a bag of gold down the chimney
James: and into the house for the oldest daughter, so she was then able to marry.
James: This was repeated later for the second daughter.
James: Finally, determined to discover the person who'd given him the money,
James: their father secretly hid by the fire every evening
James: until he caught Nicholas dropping in another bag of gold.
James: Nicholas begged the man not to tell anyone what he'd done
James: because he didn't want to bring attention to himself.
James: But soon the news got out and when everyone received a secret gift,
James: they all said it might be from Nicholas.
James: But what about the stockings?
James: Well, the bags of gold fell into the girl's stockings
James: that were hanging to dry by the fire.
James: Ah, what a great story. I never knew that one.
James: St. Nicholas isn't only the patron saint of children, but also of sailors.
James: Really?
James: In the 16th century, the stories of St. Nicholas became unpopular.
James: But someone had to deliver presents to children at Christmas,
James: so throughout Europe, different people took on the role for a few years.
James: Here in the UK, it was the Old Father Christmas.
James: In France, it was Père Noël, and in Germany, the Christ Child, or Christkind.
James: In the early years of the USA, St Nicholas' name was Chris Kringle.
James: Dutch settlers took their old stories of St Nicholas to the USA with them,
James: and soon Chris Kringle became Sinterklaas, or as we now say, Santa Claus.
James: Don't you just love how language evolves?
James: Good old St Nick became popular again in the Victorian era,
James: when writers, poets and artists rediscovered the old stories.
James: In the new stories and pictures about him,
James: his bishop's robes soon became the hat and coat that he wears today.
James: In 1882, the famous poem A Visit from St. Nicholas was written,
James: and this is where we first learnt the names of his eight reindeer.
James: And they became really well known in 1949,
James: when the song Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was written.
Steve: To add a little more to that story, James,
Steve: Rudolph was created in 1939 by Robert L. May,
Steve: who was a Montgomery Ward copywriter,
Steve: as a Christmas promotional giveaway.
Steve: And then ten years later, May's brother-in-law, Johnny Marks,
Steve: used his little verse as the basis for this very popular song.
James: Some people say that Santa lives in the North Pole,
James: but people in Finland strongly disagree.
James: They're sure that he lives in the north of Finland in Lapland,
James: which is inside the Arctic Circle.
Steve: Well, maybe one is his summer home.
James: So a happy St. Nicholas's Day to one and all,
James: and remember, be good.
James: Oh, you betcha. I don't want to be on his naughty list.
Music: Santa Claus is coming
Music: to town
Steve: Well, thanks, James.
Steve: I know I didn't know all that about Kris Kringle or Father Christmas or Père Noelle or...
Steve: Well, I'm just going to call him Santa.
Steve: Hey, please keep listening to the LifeSpring Advent Calendar.
Steve: Today's music was Andy Buscemi with Santa is Coming to Town,
Steve: which you can find at the Podsafe Music Network at music.podshow.com.
Steve: And of course, our theme music is Brian Duncan and the Neil Soul Band.
Steve: Remember, links to all of our music can be found at lifespringpodcast.com.
Steve: Come on back tomorrow.
Steve: We've got another fun show for you at the LifeSpring Advent Calendar.
Steve: And I'm Steve Webb.
Music: This Christmas love just like a song
Music: Brings out the reason
Music: To be sung
Music: Oh yeah
Music: Let this one gift last forever
Music: In the love that I get from you
Music: It never gets old
Music: This Christmas
Music: It's the love I need
Music: And it's what...